SACKVILLE, N.B. — Sackville’s Sports Wall will soon get a new look.
The wall of fame, located at the Tantramar civic centre, will undergo a change that will see the 13 x 18 charcoal drawings of the inductees replaced with smaller plaques.
Council approved the change at its recent monthly meeting, following a recommendation that came from the Sports Wall of Fame board of governors.
Matt Pryde, Sackville’s manager of recreation programs and special events, said the display at the civic centre has been getting a little short on space and the board has been discussing how to accommodate future inductees.
He said while a number of options were brought to the table, the recommendation from the board is to switch the existing charcoal sketches with smaller plaques, sized at about 8 x 10 inches.
“It would take up a lot less space and give us several years’ worth of room to continue to add to the Sports Wall,” said Pryde.
He said under the previous governance guidelines, the inductees would receive a plaque in recognition of their achievements in the sporting world while a sketch marking their contributions would adorn the Sports Wall. This would switch that system.
He said the existing drawings would be taken down and replaced with new plaques, at a one-time operational cost of about $6,000. The sketches would be given to the inductees or family members when the time comes to replace them.
But the proposed changes to the Sports Wall didn’t come without concerns.
Coun. Shawn Mesheau, who voted against the motion, questioned whether the town and the board had considered all of its options and why there seemed to be a rush in making this change.
“We have a very unique display right now with the charcoal drawings. And to switch that off with a plaque, it almost seems like we’re digressing there,” he said.
Mesheau said he had received feedback from other concerned residents who indicated they would prefer to keep the charcoal drawings as part of the display. He said perhaps that could be achieved through some sort of digital presentation.
“Is this something that urgently has to be done right now or are there possibilities or opportunities here to give it some further thought?” he asked.
Mesheau said he was hesitant to vote for a change without knowing what the new plaques would look like.
“It’s very hard to envision if this is going to be an improvement to what’s there.”
Pryde said several other options were considered throughout the process – including just continuing as is, and simply extending the Sports Wall to the far back wall of the civic centre foyer.
“But there’s a big cabinet in the middle . . .. and we didn’t think it would look very good quite frankly.”
He also said the board considered the possibility of mimicking something similar to the recently-redesigned Sackville Arts Wall. The project now features several ‘story-board type’ plaques on pedestals along the sidewalk near Cranewood.
“But something like that would be a $30,000 project . . . and would require capital funding,” he said, adding the town had received a Canada 150 grant for that project.
“We feel with a small operational increase for the year that we could actually make a pretty nice-looking display.”
Jamie Burke, senior manager of corporate projects for the town, said while there is enough wall space for another induction or two, he said the board has put this recommendation forward because it recognized “we are eventually going to run out of room.”
Burke also noted that the design of the plaques has yet to be determined and there is the possibility they could include an image of the inductee(s) as well.
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